Her spirit continued to move carefully. Her light was indistinct, making it difficult to see the ridges and valleys. Up close, the brain appeared quite gray when she inspected the densely packed cells, but the filaments, so closely bundled together appeared white. Mapping out his brain took time. There were millions of cells and the mage-shadow could be on any of them.
She had no idea of time passing, only that using such a faint light made her work extremely difficult. Fear was ever present. Xavier had been invincible, a man who tortured and killed hundreds of people from every species. No one, in all those long centuries had come to rescue them. No one had ever managed to defeat him, and it was difficult to think that anyone ever could after so much time had passed.
Evil endured. She knew it did, and Xavier was wholly evil. If anyone could ever find a way to come back from the dead . . . She couldn’t go there, couldn’t think like that. In any case, Fen was right, he couldn’t be in two places at one time. But that meant . . .
She found it. The shadow was wedged in a valley, the mark a vicious swipe of black that ran partially up a ridge. Everything in her stilled. She was disconnected from her body, but that didn’t stop the sensation of shock and horror from rushing through her. She recognized the mark. She’d seen it a hundred times. She knew who made it.
Branislava found herself back in her own body swaying with weakness. She pushed herself up and rushed off the verandah into the cool forest, into the miracle of clean, purified air. She kept running, her footfalls silent on the thick carpet of vegetation. Time passed, and she realized she wasn’t alone. Zev paced beside her, not speaking, not asking questions, just allowing her to run for her life. Run for her freedom. Just run.
She stopped abruptly and with a small sob, threw herself into his arms. There was safety there. Goodness. Zev might have to kill, but he regretted having to do so. She couldn’t detect evil in any part of him.
Just the sight of that lesion in Damon’s brain—that portal for evil with the distinctive signature—was terrifying to her. Pure evil had a way of insidiously trickling into lives and taking hold or wrenching the life away from a good individual and forcing obedience. Shadowing was such an abomination, removing free will.
She shuddered and Zev pulled her closer, held her tighter, pressing her face into his shoulder while tremors wracked her body. She inhaled the clean masculine scent of him and took solace in his integrity and compassion. Zev was an alpha male, at the very top of a predatory food chain and yet he didn’t abuse his power. Never once had he tried to take away her freedom. He worried about her, but he didn’t cage her.
Branislava brushed her mouth over his throat and burrowed even closer, grateful he didn’t ask questions of her. She wasn’t certain she could even speak. Her heart had accelerated to the point that she feared it would pound right through her chest. Her breath came in ragged, gasping staccato bursts, her lungs raw and aching.
Zev stroked caresses down the back of her head, soothing her in silence, breathing evenly, allowing her to follow his breath, his heart, at her own pace. She closed her eyes and let herself relax into him, allowed herself to be safe in his arms. The moment she did, her heart automatically began to adjust to the slower, steadier beat of his. Her breathing evened out, following that calm, composed rhythm of his.
Bronnie. Tatijana reached out to her. Are you all right?
Give me a minute. I need just a minute. Make my excuses for me.
She needed Zev. She needed the comfort of his arms and his unfailing cool, the composed commander she could count on. He could take charge and think through every battle, every crisis. And this was a crisis.
She lifted her head to look at him, to look into his eyes, searching, she knew, for reassurance. It was there, his wolf’s eyes meeting hers steadily. He waited, not asking questions or forcing her to speak, just as she knew he would.
She locked both arms around his neck and went up on her toes as she pulled his head down to hers. He didn’t hesitate or ask her what she was doing.
Zev’s lips brushed across hers and a million butterflies took wing in her stomach. She hadn’t expected that reaction, but it was a welcome distraction from the panic gripping her. She closed her eyes, her lashes fluttering for just a moment as his mouth coaxed hers, with little kisses, his tongue running along the seam.
His gentleness brought tears burning behind her eyes. In all those years, trapped in the body of a fire dragon, freezing in an ice-cold world, she had never once imagined having a man treat her with such respect or love. It was a gift. Wondrous. She opened her mouth, and the world stood still.
He kissed her with absolute confidence and command, sweeping her with him into another realm altogether, pushing away fear and replacing it with something else unexpected. Tenderness.